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The Walking Dead (Comic Series)
The Walking Dead is an American monthly black and white comic published by Image Comics beginning in 2003. The comic was created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore (replaced by Charlie Adlard from issue #7 onward) and chronicles the travels of a group of people trying to survive in a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. Synopsis The Walking Dead is centered around Rick, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive after the world is overrun with zombies. As the series progresses, the characters become more developed, and their personalities shift under the stress of a zombie apocalypse. Fighting growing despair — and sometimes each other — the group searches for a secure location which they can finally call home. An AMC television series of the same name based on the comic is set to air Halloween Night, 2010. Plot summary Days Gone Bye (issues #1-6) Rick Grimes and his partner Shane are involved in a gunfight with an escaped convict. Rick gets shot and blacks out. He awakes one month later alone in an abandoned hospital. Grimes finds the hospital's cafeteria crowded with zombies, and barely escapes with his life. He returns to his home, only to find it abandoned and catches a shovel in the back of the head. When he awakes he discover that a young boy named Duane Jones had hit him, believing him to be a zombie. Duane's father Morgan explains about the zombie plague and how they have taken up in Rick's neighbor's house, hoping to ride it out. After providing them with some weapons, Rick makes for Atlanta, believing his wife Lori and son Carl went there to find shelter. When Rick reaches Atlanta he becomes surrounded by zombies, but escapes thanks only to the aid of Glenn. Glenn leads Rick to an encampment outside the city, where he meets his family and Shane, plus several other survivors as well: Allen, his wife Donna and twin children Billy and Ben; Dale an older man whose RV is used by the group for a base; Jim; Carol and her daughter Sophia; and Amy with her sister Andrea. Rick adapts quickly to life in the encampment, soon becoming its de-facto leader alongside Shane. He and Glenn daringly raid a gun store in the city, avoiding detection by rubbing pieces of a zombie on their clothes and skin to smell like a zombie. Rick also teaches the group to shoot and the training comes in handy when the camp is beset by zombies. Several survivors are bitten. Afterward, Rick finds himself at odds with Shane. Rick argues that the camp is unsafe, but Shane wants to stay. Things come to a head when Rick confronts Shane in the forest while hunting. Rick suspects that Shane had an affair with Lori and now Shane feels that everything will be okay if he kills Rick after having Lori side up with Rick after an argument and slapping him across the face when he hit Rick. In an attempt to defend his father, Carl kills Shane. Miles Behind Us (issues #7-12) The survivors leave in Dale's camper for safer ground. They encounter another group of survivors: Tyreese, his daughter Julie, and her boyfriend Chris. Lori discovers she is pregnant, and tells Rick, who is still unaware of the affair with Shane. Banding together, they continue on the road, eventually coming to a gated community called Wiltshire Estates. They clear out one house and sleep inside. Dale and Andrea start up a relationship, having spent the most time together. The next day they spread out, intending to clean out the other houses, but do not notice the snow-covered sign at the gate reading "All Dead Inside — Do Not Enter"--until it is too late. The group is again attacked by zombies. Allen's wife Donna is subsequently bitten and killed. The survivors cram back into the RV and depart. Low on food, Rick and Tyreese decide to hunt and Carl joins them, but is shot by another hunter. Carl is badly hurt and Otis, the hunter, leads the group to the farm of Hershel Greene. Hershel tends to the boy and allows the group to take shelter at his farm while Carl heals. Glenn begins a physical relationship with one of Hershel's daughters, Maggie. Rick learns that Hershel is not killing the zombies he encounters, but instead trapping them into his barn. He hopes that one day they might be "cured" — especially since his eldest son Shawn is among them. When taking in another stray zombie, Hershel gets knocked back by a zombie by the door, and the rest of the zombies escape Hershel's barn. Despite Arnold's best efforts to save his father, his undead brother Shawn bites him. Lacey attempts to save them but is devoured by the zombies. Hershel kills all three of his children himself. Maggie, his youngest son Billy, and his youngest children, twins Rachel and Suzie become the last remaining children. After dispatching the zombies, Rick and his party are obliged to leave after a heated argument between Rick and Hershel, though Glenn stays behind with his girlfriend, Maggie. Rick and the others eventually come to a prison and decide it would make the perfect haven from the undead. Safety Behind Bars (issues #13-18) Rick and the others begin the arduous task of cleaning out the prison of zombies. They discover four inmates using the prison as a shelter: Dexter, Andrew, Axel, and Thomas. Some survivors are reluctant to trust the criminals, but Rick reasons that they are all in the same mess together. Rick invites the Greenes to come to the prison with them, since there is plenty of food and plenty of room. The Greenes agree bringing Otis' girlfriend, Patricia. Carol and Tyreese meanwhile begin a relationship. Tyreese's daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris sneak away during the night to fulfill a suicide pact, but Chris shoots too quickly killing Julie. Tyreese and Rick arrive to find Chris huddled in a corner with a gun in his hand and Julie dead. Chris tries to explain, but Tyreese chokes him to death. When Chris and Julie both return as zombies it is revealed that reanimation occurs in all dead bodies, not only those of people who have been injured by the undead. While Rick is gone, Rachel and Suzie Greene are decapitated while playing alone. Suspicion falls on Dexter, the only convict known to have been incarcerated for murder. When Rick returns, he finds the others have locked Dexter up in a cell. Dexter protests his innocence, but no one believes him. He recruits Andrew, to steal several shotguns from Block A, which had not been cleaned out yet. Thomas, one of the other inmates, is caught chasing after Andrea, who escaped while he tried to behead her. Thomas slashes her face with a knife, cutting off her earlobe and leaving a long scar down her face. Rick beats Thomas to within an inch of his life, severely breaking his own hand in the process. Rick orders Thomas to be hanged. Patricia, who was having difficulties in her relationship with Otis and was befriending Thomas, frees him, only to be attacked. Maggie Greene shoots Thomas and kills him. Shortly afterward, Dexter, Andrew, and Patricia confront Rick and his party, ordering them out of the prison. Axel, the last remaining inmate, tries to reason with Dexter, but when he himself is threatened with expulsion, he remains silent. The Heart's Desire (issues #19-24) A horde of zombies pour out from Block A and the prisoners and the other survivors are forced to work together to wipe out the zombies. Rick waits for an opportunity and shoots Dexter through the head. When the battle ends, he claims Dexter must have caught a stray round. Tyreese saw the shot, but says nothing. Andrew takes off through the open prison gates without a word. Axel allies with the other survivors. Meanwhile, outside the gates, Otis is making for the prison. He had stayed behind at Hershel's farm to manage the livestock, and only now decided to head for safety. He stops to watch the battle inside the prison, and soon ends up surrounded by zombies himself. He is rescued, however, by Michonne who joins the survivors. While cleaning out the rest of the prison, Allen is bitten on the leg. Rick amputates the affected leg, hoping to catch the infection in time but fails. Michonne seduces Tyreese and Carol spots them and attempts suicide. Carol survives, and Rick confronts Tyreese, and blames him for Carol trying to kill herself. Tyreese announces that he saw Rick kill Dexter. The two fight, during which Rick falls from the upper level of a cell block and is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he learns that the entire group now knows of Rick's action. They have decided that the pressure of being their "leader" is beginning to cause him to crack, and they have made him merely one of four "co-leaders," with the others being Tyreese, Dale, and Hershel. The Best Defense (issues #25-30) Glenn discovers the prison's armory, complete with shotguns and full riot gear. Inspired by the new equipment, the group plans to siphon gasoline out of the remaining cars in the prison parking lot. Glenn and Rick head out and soon spot a helicopter in the sky, which immediately crashes. Glenn, Rick and Michonne find the crash site, but it is deserted, the only clues are many footprints, and tire tracks heading from the wreckage. Rick decides another group must have taken the survivors, and they follow the tracks. Back at the prison, Carol continues to act bizarrely toward Lori and suggests a polyamorous marriage between her, Lori and Rick. Lori refuses and Carol becomes angry and storms off. Dale and Andrea informally adopt Ben and Billy. Rick, Glenn, and Michonne eventually end up in the town of Woodbury. They meet a guard, Martinez, and find a well-armed and well-organized group of citizens, led by a man known as The Governor. The Governor explains that the National Guardsmen abandoned a nearby station, leaving behind weapons and equipment. The Governor leads the group to an arena surrounded by a ring of leashed zombies, which is used for gladiatorial combat. The Governor tells Rick they feed the zombies people that stumble into Woodbury. Before Rick can respond, Rick is forced down on a table and interrogated at gunpoint by the Governor, who wants to know where Rick's camp is. When Rick and the others say they are the only ones, The Governor cuts off Rick's right hand. Michonne tackles the Governor and rips off his left ear with her teeth. Rick is sent to the infirmary for immediate treatment, because the Governor wants whatever information he has. Glenn is locked in solitary confinement, and Michonne is raped and tortured by The Governor. The Governor returns to his home, where he has his zombie daughter restrained and several aquariums with zombie heads inside them. Later, he talks to Glenn, who has become deranged from his lengthy stay in confinement. He tells Glenn that he plans to question him, but first tortures Michonne again, making sure Glenn hears her cries. In the infirmary, a now conscious Rick talks to Dr. Stevens, about the Governor, whose real name is Philip. Dr. Stevens tells Rick how Phillip emerged as a leader. It became apparent that he was evil but no one challenges him because he kept everyone safe from the zombies. The Governor then enters and manipulates Rick into revealing that there is indeed a nearby camp, and he wants its for Woodbury. Back at the prison, the group begins to worry about Rick, Michonne, and Glenn, who have now been missing for two days. Otis tries to patch things up with Patricia. Lori worries about Rick, and when Carol tries to help, she is roughly turned away, as Lori mistakes her friendly comfort for another romantic approach. Tyreese returns to the prison after searching for the missing survivors and tells the others that he found the car stuck in the mud, but that was the only trace of their presence. This Sorrowful Life (issues #31-36) In Woodbury, Rick is bonding with Doctor Stevens and his nurse, Alice, when one of the town's gladiators, Eugene, arrives and kills his opponent. After the confusion, Martinez comes to check on the doctor and is surprised by Rick's injury. Low on gladiators, The Governor offers Michonne to fight it out in the arena in exchange for a rest period from her daily torture. He explains that the arena fights are staged to look good, but not deadly. She agrees to fight Eugene, and in the arena, kills him and then the surrounding zombies without hesitation. The onlookers protest the extreme violence, and Michonne is quickly knocked out again. Meanwhile, Martinez breaks Rick out, taking Stevens, Alice, and Glenn with him. When they rescue Michonne, she says she will catch up later. In the confusion of escape, Stephens is bitten, but asks to stay a zombie rather than be killed. Back within the city, Michonne arrives and tortures Phillip to the point of severe mutilation. When she is interrupted, she quickly escapes. Michonne later arrives at the crashed helicopter, meeting her friends. After a long fight against zombies back to the prison, they return to find the gates open, the prison overrun by hordes of zombies, and Dale's RV seemingly abandoned. Rick's group finds Dale and Andrea, who tell Rick the other survivors are hiding elsewhere. Rick kills an undead Otis, but is reunited with everyone else. Hershel says his wound was just a scratch from friendly fire, and Glenn finds a female zombie and takes its ring off, presumably to ask Maggie to marry him. Andrea catches Michonne talking to her other self, and Tyreese takes Rick off zombie duty due to his injuries. In the confusion after clearing out the zombie infestation, Rick notices Martinez is missing, and assumes that he has gone back to Woodbury to tell where the prison is. Rick immediately sets off after Martinez in Dale's RV. He catches up to him before he makes it to Woodbury and proceeds to kill him. Back in the prison, Glenn asks permission to marry Maggie from Hershel, to which the tearful father agrees. Glenn then proceeds to propose to Maggie and the two become engaged. After Rick's return, he calls for a group meeting where he finally reveals where Glenn, Michonne, and he have been for the past few days. He instructs the group to prepare themselves for the upcoming fight with the Woodbury survivors. The Calm Before (Issues #37-42) Lori confronts Rick about her sexual encounter with Shane and the fact that her baby might be his, but before she can fully admit her mistake, Rick tells her that he knows, and that he just can't hear her say it. Glenn and Maggie were married by Hershel in a small ceremony in the prison's cafeteria. Tyreese, Andrea, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne and Axel go out to search for the military base to stock for the incoming onslaught from Woodbury. The group finds the base and takes several guns and canisters of gas. To prevent the people of Woodbury from taking more supplies, they blow it up. They then stop at an abandoned Wal-Mart for additional supplies, where they are confronted by armed thugs from Woodbury. Glenn approaches the Woodbury men and attempts to negotiate but the leader of the thugs recognizes Glenn from his time in Woodbury and shoots Glenn. A gunfight breaks out, and the Woodbury men are defeated. Maggie rushes to Glenn, thinking he is dead, but his prison riot armor saved him. Back at the prison, Lori goes into labor. Billy is sent to keep the generator on. He brings Dale with him, and they realize there is hardly any gas left to power the generator. They leave the prison gates to siphon gas from the cars, and Dale is bitten in the leg by a zombie. Glenn's party arrives at the same time and brings Dale and Billy inside. Lori delivers a baby girl. Shortly after the birth, Dale's injured leg is hastily amputated by Rick. Lori then decides on the name Judith for her newborn daughter. Dale, despite being bitten, seems to show no signs of turning. Following Dale's injuries, Andrea is spending more time with Tyreese. Dale suspects something, but Rick is convinced he is simply overreacting. Outside, the others capture a zombie and hold it hostage for study. Carol meanwhile is losing her grip on her sanity. After having sex with Billy she goes outside and allows the captured zombie to bite her on the neck. Both she and the zombie are shot. Dale learns to walk with a peg leg that Tyreese and Andrea made for him. Glenn and Maggie decide to try and have a baby. Later the Governor arrives with an army and a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Made to Suffer (Issues #43-48) Badly mutilated, the Governor speaks to the Woodbury people and tells them that the prison survivors are a group of savages who must be destroyed. The Governor and his army depart Woodbury and arrive at the prison. The Woodbury army opens fire into the zombie masses between themselves and the prison. Rick tells Lori to head underground and hide while he and the others dive for cover. Andrea heads to the tower with her rifle and begins picking off men from the Woodbury army. Despite superior numbers, the Woodbury army is poorly trained and are forced to fall back and regroup. Rick's group begins to debate whether they should remain inside the prison or go on the offensive. Before they can decide, Rick emerges from the prison with a bullet wound in his abdomen and collapses. Dale, Andrea, the twins, Sophia, Glenn and Maggie flee the prison in the RV in order to avoid the confrontation they expect from the Governor. Rick gets a blood transfusion and starts to recover. Tyreese and Michonne decide to tail the Governor and the townspeople in the hopes that if they kill a few more it will discourage their attack. Tyreese is captured after killing a couple townspeople and is told that Michonne is dead. The Governor returns to the prison with Tyreese as his prisoner. He tells them he has Michonne as well and they must let him in or Tyreese dies. The survivors refuse to let him in and the Governor decapitates Tyreese. They leave Tyreese's body in front of the prison gates as they flee. The Governor tells the Woodbury people a false story about how Rick and his people killed Tyreese, but Michonne then shows up right behind him with a gun to his head. Gabe opens fire at Michonne, but she fires back, clips the Governor, kills one of his men and escapes. The Governor and his army return to the prison and attack it. Axel is killed, but the prison survivors are able to successfully defend themselves. The Woodbury army is further destroyed and demoralized by Billy hurling a grenade into their midst, killing several of them. Gabe tells the Governor that Woodbury's army must regroup, but the Governor refuses. Gabe is shot and killed by a returning Andrea in the RV. One of the Governor's henchmen drives a truck into the RV, injuring Andrea. As his army seeks to retreat, the Governor orders the IFV to drive over the fences. Rick and his group rush to escape while the Governor and his army invade the prison. Rick rushes into the cellblock, looking for Lori and Judith and eventually finds them with Alice pointing a gun at them. They tell him they were only faking in case they were discovered by the Governor's men. Rick, along with his family and Alice, attempt to escape to the truck. Meanwhile, Patricia and Billy are shot and killed. Billy's death demoralizes Hershel, causing him to refuse to even try to escape. The Governor and his men open fire, and kill Alice, Lori and Judith, but Rick and Carl escape. The Governor orders his men to stop firing at them and then executes Hershel. Lilly realizes that Lori was carrying a baby and calls the Governor a monster. She hits him with her rifle and puts the barrel in his mouth. A horde of zombies, however, break through the hole in the fence and attack the Woodbury army. The Governor gets up, shoots a zombie and urges that the group to move into the prison. As the remnants of the army are overwhelmed, Lilly gets to her feet and shoots the Governor in the head and pushes his corpse into a mass of zombies. She leads the remnants of the army into the prison, but they are killed by the zombies. Rick and Carl manage to run to safety, and burst into tears upon realizing that Lori and Judith are dead. Here We Remain (Issues #49-54) Michonne returns to the ruins of the prison, and upon finding Tyreese's undead decapitated head drives her sword through it. She investigates the wreckage of the RV, but finds nothing except footprints leading away from the battle, which she follows. Rick and Carl are holed up in a nearby town. They investigate a nearby store, but are attacked by a zombie. Rick tries to drive his axe through its head, but is unable to penetrate its skull. Carl shoots the zombie after Rick lures it outside, and Rick asks Carl for his gun to dispose of another zombie. They hide in a nearby house and Rick takes a huge dose of antibiotics. Carl finds Rick unconscious, his eyes glazed over. After defeating three zombies, one of which attacked him from behind, Carl decides that he no longer needs his dad to survive. He blames his father for failing to protect Lori and Judith, as well as the rest of their previous party. Rick momentarily wakes up and pleads with Carl to stay indoors. Carl agrees and holds Rick's head, taking back what he said about not needing his father's protection. Rick eventually gets better. Rick gets a call on the phone of the house they are staying in. Rick begins to talk to the voice and converse about their ordeals. Eventually, he asks for the woman's name and she answers Lori. Rick then forcefully unplugs the phone but can still hear Lori speaking on the line. This causes him to realize that the phone calls were all in his head and that he is trying to forgive himself for Lori's death. Eventually, he "hangs up" although he takes the phone with him in his backpack. Continuing their journey, Rick tries to teach as much as he can to Carl, to help him be able to stay alive even if Rick should be killed. When Rick leaves Carl alone, in order to forage for some gas, a zombie attacks the child, who's saved by Michonne. Michonne rejoins the group, revealing that a still unknown survivor from the prison escaped. Michonne was following the tracks to find out if he/she was one of them, or one of the attackers. The next morning they are reunited with Maggie and Glenn. Rick, Carl, and Michonne return to Hershel's farm where everyone has been staying. Carl and Sophia are reunited, where Carl learns that Sophia has repressed her memories of her mother and now thinks that Glenn and Maggie are her real parents. Michonne reveals to Rick that she's been "talking" to her dead boyfriend. Rick shows Michonne his phone and explains that every time he picks up the phone's receiver, he talks to Lori. Rick and Michonne agree to keep each other's "craziness" a secret. The next morning, the survivors are woken by a gunshot. Outside, Andrea points her rifle at three new arrivals: Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa and Dr. Eugene Porter. Ford explains that they are on a mission to Washington, D.C. He was in contact with Washington officials in the early days of the zombie disaster. Eugene, a scientist, reveals he knows exactly what caused the creation of the zombie plague, yet reveals little as he deems the details classified. After a discussion of their current situation and an attack on the farm by zombies, the group decides to travel along with the visitors on their way to Washington. What We Become (Issues #55-#60) The group travels and sets up camp along their way to DC. Rick still feels guilty for his decisions that led to so many deaths, but mainly Lori and Judy's. Meanwhile, Maggie is going through a very serious depression due to the loss of her entire family, and Glen is unable to comfort her. The group scavenges a small town for supplies and discovers a zombie that is too weak to attempt to eat anyone. The group wonders if the zombies can be malnourished or even starve to death. The group sets up camp again, and Maggie leaves to use the restroom. After a while, Glenn sets off to find her and discovers she committed suicide. Glen screams for help and Abraham cuts her down, only to find that she is not breathing. Glen wants to do CPR, but Abraham puts a gun to her head and says that she is dead and they have to shoot her or she will come back as a zombie. The group argues and just as Abraham is about to pull the trigger, Rick puts a gun to Abraham's head and says that if he shoots Maggie, he will kill him. Just then, Maggie gasps for air, alive and okay. The group goes back to camp, and Maggie does not want to talk to anyone, even her husband, about what she tried to do. Rick is watching over the camp that night until Abraham comes to relieve him and tells Rick that if he ever points a gun at him again, he will kill him. Rick replies that if Abraham ever does something that requires Rick to put the gun to his head, he won't hesitate to shoot. Rick is attacked by a zombie but does not have a weapon and is unable to defend himself, but can see Abraham pointing a gun in his direction. Rick screams for Abraham to shoot, but Abraham just watches. Finally, he shoots the zombie and saves Rick's life. Abraham walks away from the group, and Rosita finds him shaking and crying. Abraham tells her he was pointing the gun at Rick before he even saw the zombie. He pleads with Rosita to not let him kill again. Rosita assures him that the people he killed in the past left him no choice and it was not his fault. The group stops at a gas station and tries to decide what the best route is to Washington DC. Rick tells Abraham that he wants to take the interstate to his home town to get extra supplies from the poilce station and to check on "old friends." Abraham agrees, and the group decides to wait while they go. Rick, Carl, and Abraham set off, with Michonne saying if they are not back in 3 days, she will set off to find them. On the first night of their trip, they are surprised at knifepoint by 3 bandits who want to take their supplies. Rick tries to fight them off, but he is overpowered and beaten. The bandits then say they are going to rape Carl because Rick tried to fight. Rick bites the neck of the bandit holding him back, killing him. This causes the bandit holding a knife to Abraham to get distracted and Abraham shoots him in the head. The third bandit tries to run away, but Rick chases him down and kills. The next morning, Abraham tells Rick that no one is the same after doing something like that. Abraham tells Rick that at the beginning to the zombie plague, he and a group of friends and neighbors banded together. After securing a grocery store, Abraham goes out to search for more weapons. While he was gone, his friends rape his wife and daughter. In a fit of rage he killed the men who did it. After that, his wife and child were scared of him and ran away. It took a day but he caught up with them, but by then they were zombies and he had to kill them. Rick recounts the stories of how he killed Dexter and Martinez to protect his wife and son. Carl talks about how he killed Shane when Shane threatened Rick. At long last, Rick, Abraham, and Carl reach Rick's hometown. There they find an unstable Morgan and a chained zombie Duane. Unwilling to kill his own son, he chained him to the floor and killed anyone who came to their house to feed him. Rick invites Morgan to come with them. Morgan, Rick, Carl, and Abraham go to the police station to get the guns. After spending a sleepless night out in the open, they are driving along when they come to a 'herd' of hundreds of zombies. Rick drives as fast as he can to get through them, but hits an abandoned car. They escape on foot pursued by zombies. Rick and company escape the herd by tricking them into thinking they've occupied a house, they do this by searching around the house for electrical appliances that would make a large noise. This plan fails and they are pursued by the herd back to the gas station. In a state of panic, they declare that they must immediately leave and get back on the road. Dale is reluctant, because he's found an isolated farm house and wants to settle down and feels that Rick is continually putting the group into serious danger. Andrea convinces him to leave. Cast of characters The cast of The Walking Dead is in constant flux as new survivors join Rick's group and old characters meet gruesome ends. The current adult survivors are Rick, Morgan, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, Andrea, Dale, Sgt. Ford, Rosita, and Eugene. The current children surviving are Carl, Sophia, Billy, and Ben. The following table is a list of the main characters more or less in the order in which they appear. Artists * Tony Moore: #1-6 (2004) (interior & covers), #1-24 (covers) (2005), collected trade paperback volumes 1-4 (covers). * Charlie Adlard: #7-present (interior), #25-present (covers), collected trade paperback volumes 5-present (covers). Collected editions The series has so far been collected into the following collections: Softcovers The trade paperbacks collect six issues each, but contain only the story and no cover art. Compendium Edition The compendium edition, has 48 issues in paperback format. *Volume 1; collects #1-48; ISBN 1-60706-076-0; To be Released 5/6/09 Hardcovers All hardcovers contain the material from the comics including the covers, and in some cases, bonus material. The trim size of the books are larger than the paperbacks. Each hardcover containts two story arcs from the series. Other releases Limited Edition Omnibus editions collect 24 issues in a slipcase with several extras. As limited edition versions, the first volume is autographed by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard with 300 pieces available, while the second had a larger release. * The Walking Dead Volume 1 Deluxe HC (Collects #1-24; ISBN 1-58240-511-5; Released 12/14/05) * The Walking Dead Volume 2 Deluxe HC (Collects #25-48; ISBN 1-60706-029-9; Released 2/17/09) The Covers series collects the covers in hardcover format. * The Walking Dead: The Covers (Collects the covers for issues #1-50; ISBN 1-60706-002-7; TEMPORARILY CANCELLED The Limited Edition retailer giveaway is limited Hardcover of the softcover Vol. 1, with black faux leather cover and red foil hilights. A 2009 calendar, The Walking Dead 2009 Calendar features twelve covers from the series. Literary significance and reception Max Brooks, author World War Z, told Kirkman that he had read The Walking Dead and liked it, but Kirkman said he could not read World War Z until he finished The Walking Dead which would not be "any time soon, so I’m never going read his book."Baltimore: Image Comics Panel by Jonathan Callan, September 28, 2008 Television adaptation On August 12, 2009, it was announced that the cable station AMC had picked up the rights to produce a television series based on the comic The Walking Dead.The Walking Dead Comes to TelevisionKirkman Talks "Walking Dead" Frank Darabont will write, direct and serve as an executive producer. In March 2010 it was announced that AMC ordered six episodes for the first season, the pilot will begin filming on 15 May 2010. It is scheduled to debut on AMC in October 2010.AMC Orders Up Six Episodes of The Walking Dead!Zombies Invade AMC as The Walking Dead Moves to PilotStart Date Set for The Walking Dead Pilot'The Walking Dead' Gets Six-Episode Order From AMCTV: AMC Already Picks Up Six Episodes of 'The Walking Dead'! Announced cast members include Andrew Lincoln as lead character Rick Grimes and Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh.Walking Dead Finds Leading Man See also *The Walking Dead Wiki External links * tonymooreillustration.com: Tony Moore's The Walking Dead Cover Art Gallery * comicnews.info: The Walking Dead The Walking Dead Volume 9 * Week of the Dead I: Robert Kirkman interview, Comic Book Resources, May 19, 2008 * Week of the Dead II: Charlie Adlard interview, Comic Book Resources, May 20, 2008 * comicmonsters.com: The Making of The Walking Dead by: Charlie Adlard * The Walking Dead (TWD) Fan Club * The Walking Dead (TWD) Fan Club: Charlie Adlard interview Notes